Bitcoin's price recently dropped to a two-month low of $25,300, surprising many traders.
The 11.5% decline from August 16th to August 18th resulted in the liquidation of $900 million worth of long positions.
Questions arose regarding whether retail traders or professional traders bore the brunt of these losses.
There's a common belief that whales and market makers have an edge in predicting price shifts, but this doesn't make them immune to losses.
Large traders often hedge their positions, allowing us to analyze if they anticipated a market correction.
Margin trading played a crucial role in this scenario, with Bitfinex margin traders known for their significant positions.
On August 15th, Bitfinex's margin long positions reached 94,240 BTC, suggesting professional traders were caught off guard.
Unlike futures contracts, the balance between margin longs and shorts isn't inherently stable.
The OKX BTC margin lending ratio favored long positions, indicating that whales maintained their positions before the price crash.
Analysis of the net long-to-short ratio of top traders across futures contracts suggests that professional traders were unprepared for the sudden price drop, implying they likely didn't profit from it.